The All Blacks have picked their strongest available side to try to exact revenge on France, with Neemia Tialata, Jerome Kaino and Cory Jane recalled for Sunday's test in Marseille.
After seeing his entire 33-man squad during tests against Wales, Italy and England, coach Graham Henry settled on his top
lineup yesterday with three changes from the 19-6 win at Twickenham.
Tighthead prop Tialata returned for Owen Franks, Kaino for Adam Thomson on the blindside flank, and one of the year's success stories Jane for rising star Zac Guildford on the right wing.
Otago lock Tom Donnelly also confirmed his status as one of the country's top-two second-rowers, in the absence of the injured Ali Williams, as he retained his spot alongside Brad Thorn.
There were some intriguing selections on the bench, with Thomson unluckily losing out to the speed of Tanerau Latimer; Franks heading John Afoa and five-eighths Stephen Donald and Luke McAlister both included.
The latter may be as insurance for Ma'a Nonu, who didn't train yesterday with a slight haematoma on his thigh suffered against England.
Assistant coach Wayne Smith insisted Nonu would be fit to play and expected he would take part in the side's final serious run late today.
It meant nine starting All Blacks returned from the season-opening 22-27 defeat to France in Dunedin in June, with the key additions of captain Richie McCaw, Kaino, Donnelly, Dan Carter, Conrad Smith and Sitiveni Sivivatu.
Dave Gallaher Trophy holders France, captained by Thierry Dusautoir, had 11 survivors from their Dunedin starting lineup as coach Marc Lievremont named a powerful side at their base outside Paris yesterday.
All three All Blacks changes were predictable, with the Kaino/Thomson duel perhaps the toughest for the coaches to split.
Kaino's physicality against the imposing French pack won him the nod after effective breakdown forager Thomson had the starting role against the Wallabies in Wellington and Tokyo, and at Twickenham.
Tialata and Jane, who became known as the Twitter Twins after they revealed on the social networking site they would be rested against England, deserved their recalls after starting consecutive tests against Australia, Wales and Italy.
"Wing/fullback is very competitive but we feel Cory has really deserved his spot. Zac's been great, Ben Smith showed a fair bit in Italy, but Cory's been consistently good so that's the way we went," Smith said.
"[Prop] Owen Franks did really well against England but Neemia's probably been the best he's been for us."
Along with experienced loosehead Tony Woodcock, it was hoped Tialata would shore up a scrum that creaked against Italy and England.
Notably, France demolished the Springboks at scrum time in their 20-13 victory in Toulouse almost a fortnight ago.
The selections reflect the All Blacks' view of the Stade Velodrome test as their tour grand final after a patchy international season including three defeats to Tri-Nations champions the Springboks and their Dunedin blemish.
"It has to be [a defining match]. It hasn't been a vintage year in terms of our results," Smith said. "We've made some progress on tour, in terms of competition for spots. We've got some genuine contenders which was what we were after.
"Not winning the Tri-Nations hurt us and we want to make sure we move on from that and this will be the best way to do it.
"It's a big game and the players sense that. We've got to show we can front for this situation."
Bench hooker Corey Flynn was also named to back up Andrew Hore after he missed the England test with a hamstring strain.
FRANCE
Damien Traille
Vincent Clerc
David Marty
Yannick Jauzion
Maxime Medard
Francois Trinh-Duc
Julien Dupuy
Julien Bonnaire
Fulgence Ouedraogo
Thierry Dusautoir (c)
Romain Millo-Chluski
Sebastien Chabal
Sylvain Marconnet
William Servat
Fabien Barcella
ALL BLACKS
Mils Muliaina
Cory Jane
Conrad Smith
Ma'a Nonu
Sitiveni Sivivatu
Dan Carter
Jimmy Cowan
Kieran Read
Richie McCaw (c)
Jerome Kaino
Tom Donnelly
Brad Thorn
Neemia Tialata
Andrew Hore
Tony Woodcock
France: Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Lionel Nallet, Julien Puricelli, Morgan Parra, Yann David, Cedric Heymans.
All Blacks: Corey Flynn, Owen Franks, Anthony Boric, Tanerau Latimer, Andy Ellis, Stephen Donald, Luke McAlister.
Marseille, 8.45am Sunday
- NZPA
Jerome Kaino has been recalled to the All Blacks side to face France this weekend. Photo / Getty Images
The All Blacks have picked their strongest available side to try to exact revenge on France, with Neemia Tialata, Jerome Kaino and Cory Jane recalled for Sunday's test in Marseille.
After seeing his entire 33-man squad during tests against Wales, Italy and England, coach Graham Henry settled on his top
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